Review: Toshiba Portege Z20t

Introduction and design

The Toshiba Portege z20t ($1,399, £1,289, AU$1,815) is a business-grade hybrid laptop that is compact, lightweight and moderately stylish.

Competing in the same class as the business-focused Dell Venue 11 Pro 7000 and the HP Elite x2 1011, the Portege is capable as both a laptop and as a tablet, with enough power and battery life to get you through the average work day.

However, like most business hybrids, especially those of the thin and light variety, the Portege doesn't feature the high-end performance of a mobile workstation, nor is it as sexy as a consumer 2-in-1. What you're getting here is a compromise that delivers on its hybrid-for-work promise, but not much else.

Design

Built with a neat-looking graphite black metallic shell that won't fingerprint or smudge, the Portege is middle-of-the-pack in terms of heft and thickness. The Portege weighs 3.3 pounds (1.5kg) when attached to its power keyboard, and 1.6 pounds (0.73 kg) as a tablet.

For reference, the HP Elite x2 weighs 3.63 pounds (1.65kg) when attached to its power keyboard, and 1.71 pounds (0.71kg) without a keyboard, while the Venue 11 Pro weighs 1.76 pounds (0.72kg) with its keyboard and 1.6 pounds (0.68kg) without it, respectively. To be fair, neither of those keyboards will add 7 hours of battery life like the Portege's power keyboard will, so the keyboard more than makes up for its heft. It's also slightly slimmer than the Elite x2, by a measly 0.02 inches, so there's one more minor, minor victory.

The Z20t features a 12.5-inch, 1,920 x 1,080 IPS touchscreen that compares nicely to the full HD-resolution display (FHD) 1,920 x 1080 on the 11.6 inch Elite x2, and the Dell Venue 11 Pro 7000's FHD screen. However, the Z20t's screen does feature a bit more pizazz than the Elite x2, which was one of the weaker FHD screens I've ever tested.

The tablet is built with a flat base that is comfortable to handle when not attached to the keyboard dock. However, the seven latches that hold the tablet to the dock are a bit much. Popping the tablet off of the dock is as simple as flipping a button and pulling, but putting the tablet back on requires careful alignment. You won't be able to mindlessly slap the tablet back onto the dock, especially considering how flimsy the plastic latches and receivers are on both ends of the device; if you do, you might very well end up with a little piece of plastic shrapnel flying off onto your desk.

Unlike the Elite x2, you can connect the tablet to the keyboard in the reverse display mode seen on Lenovo Yoga devices, and you can flip and bend the tablet all the way back into tablet mode while it's still attached to the power keyboard. So, if you're in desperate need of this device in tablet mode, but you're short on juice, you can pop it onto the keyboard and get to work without an issue.

Unfortunately, when the device sits on the dock in display mode, you won't be able to press too hard on the screen, as the tablet doesn't lock into place while sitting on the dock. This is a bit of a hindrance, especially for anyone who is giving a presentation and needs to use the touchscreen to flip from slide to slide.

In laptop mode, the mounting is perfect; it's sturdy enough to handle hard presses, and loose enough to adjust without having to yank and shove.

One thing you'll likely hate about the Portege is the key layout on the power keyboard. I'm not sure if a group of middle-schoolers is the target demographic for this device, but the keys are so small you're going to wind up spending more time searching for the right button than you should, especially for a device that's designed for productivity. Ditto for the trackpad, which is only about and inch and a half tall.

Specifications and battery life

Like the Dell Venue 11 Pro and the Elite x2, the Portege runs on an Intel Core M chip, which is designed for mobile computing. Core M processors lack the speed and power of the Intel Core i series, which can be found on hybrids like the Microsoft Surface Pro series.

As I mentioned in my Elite x2 review, Core i processors are especially suited for Windows 10, which is designed to enable enhanced productivity, such as multitasking between spreadsheets and video editing. With a Core M processor, you can still get through a typical work day without noticing any issues, but if your job requires heavy spreadsheet use, or video editing, or if you want to sneak in a PC game, you're going to want something that comes with a Core i processor.

Specifications

Here is the Toshiba Portege z20t configuration sent to techradar for review:

• CPU: 1.2 GHz Intel Core M 5Y71 (dual-core, 4MB cache, up to 2.9GHz with Turbo Boost
• Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 5300
• RAM: 8 GB
• Screen: 12.5-inch 1,920x1,080 HD resolution
• Storage: 128 GB
• Ports: 2 x USB 3.0 (power keyboard), 1 x Ethernet (power keyboard), 1 x HDMI (power keyboard), 1 x RGB video (power keyboard), 1 x HDMI, 1 x microSD, 1 x micro USB
• Weight: 1.71 pounds
• Size: 12.2 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches (W x D x H) (tablet with keyboard)

What you'll immediately love about this device is the abundance of ports and connections available. Even on the tablet alone, you're able to connect via HDMI, micro USB and microSD. That's pretty rad for a tablet. Most manufacturers leave the ports and connections off of the tablet, in order to minimize thickness. Toshiba was able to do both simultaneously. Kudos.

Benchmarks

Here's how the Toshiba Portege x20t performed in our suite of benchmark tests:

• 3DMark: Cloud Gate: 2,976; SkyDiver: 1,435; Fire Strike: 400
• Cinebench CPU: 113 points; Graphics: 14 fps
• PCMark 8 (Home Test): 2,187
• PCMark 8 Battery Life: 7 hours and 54 minutes

In the Cinebench graphics test, the Portege and the Elite x2 1011 managed a frame rate of 14 frames per second (fps), which is about 7 frames slower than the Venue, and 11 frames worse than Core i-powered Microsoft Surface Pro 3. For the CineBench CPU test, which measures a processor's multi-core performance via a 3D image rendering task, the Portege got whooped by everyone, even the Elite x2, which scored 152 points, a score that is about 30 points lower than the Dell, and 50 points lower than the Surface.

The Portege and the Elite scored 400 points in 3DMark's Fire Strike test, which measures graphics rendering. The Dell scored 512 points. The Surface scored only 347 points.

The Portege lost to all of its competition on the 3DMark Sky Diver test by a wide margin (1,435 to the Elite's 1,491 to the Dell's 1,862 and the Surface's 2,242).

So, even compared to devices in its own class, the Portege runs slightly slower. But where the Portege absolutely wallops the competition is in battery life.

Battery

Only the Elite x2, which ran for 7 hours and 41 minutes (about 14 minutes less than the Portege) during the PCMark 8 battery test, is able to compare to the Portege in this competition. The Surface only ran for 2 hours and 38 minutes during this test, while the Venue ran for 4 hours and 1 minute.

When playing looped video on the Elite x2, I was able to run the battery for 7 hours and 15 minutes as a tablet and 11 hours and 20 minutes when connected to the power keyboard. With the Portege I was able to run the same test for 7 hours and 45 minutes as a tablet, and 14 hours and 25 minutes with the attached keyboard.

Final verdict

I'm torn about the Portege. Although its nice to handle, it runs pretty well and its battery is incredible, its performance is frustrating. It's not much worse than the competition, but there's definitely a noticeable difference.

We liked

The Portege isn't the sexiest device in the world, but it looks pretty good on a desk. It detaches very easily and handles comfortably as a large format tablet. Its FHD screen is more vibrant than comparable screens. The hybrid's day-to-day performance is solid, so long as you're not pushing it with laborious tasks like video editing or graphics rendering.

If battery life is your main priority, you're going to want to run to your local retailer to purchase this device. It runs for almost two full work days when attached to its power keyboard, and it can get you through a normal day in tablet mode with no issue (provided you take a lunch break).

We disliked

Unfortunately, it disappointed in comparison to hybrids with similar Core M chipsets. I doubt you'll notice the difference in common daily tasks, but if you try to push this device to do anything more than word processing or web surfing, you might encounter a performance lag compared to its competition.

Additionally, I found the keyboard to be almost unusable due to its minute keys. If you've got big and clumsy hands like I do, you'll regret having to do any data entry on a daily basis.

Final verdict

If what you're after is a compact and lightweight large format business tablet that can remained powered all day, the Toshiba Portege z20t might be right for you. However, if you perform labor intensive tasks at work, then you'd probably be better suited buying one of the competing hybrids. That's not to say this isn't a solid device (it is), but you're already making a sacrifice buying something with a Core M chip, you shouldn't have to sacrifice further by buying a hybrid whose Core M chip isn't on par with similarly-specced devices.

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